April 2015

Northern Lights in the Greenland NightsBy Bruce Carter

Two years ago Kathy and I heard abouta trip to Greenland to view the Aurora Bo-realis. It was sponsored by the Friends ofthe Observatory (the Griffith Observatory)with the explicit goal of viewing theNorthern Lights. So we signed up andtraveled with a group of 24 people toGreenland in October 2013.

Flying from Los Angeles we first spenta few days in Copenhagen before flyingabout half way back to land at a large air-port at Kangerlussuaq deep in a fjord onGreenland’s west coast just north of theArctic Circle. In World War II this was amajor stopping point for allied aircraft fly-

ing from North America on their way toIceland and Great Britain.

The first day we visited the Sondre-strom Research Facility established tostudy the upper atmosphere and its interac-tions with space plasma, the Aurora beingone of the most widely recognized andspectacular phenomena produced by theseinteractions.

The station features a 105 ft parabolicdish antenna that measures ionosphericparticles and their properties. The presen-tation at SRI provided a great introductionto the adventure that lay ahead.

The next day we drove 22 miles in a 4-wheel drive bus up to the margin of theRussell Glacier. This glacier is particu-

larly active currently, estimated to be mov-ing more than 100 feet a year, about dou-ble the historical norm. This is attributedto increasing temperatures producinggreater fluidity under the glacier.

The dirt track we followed was built byVolkswagen in the late 1990’s and origi-nally continued up onto the ice cap wherethey established a test track for the VWTouareq 4WD vehicles.

We parked and then took a short 30minute walk over the old disrupted road,torn apart by continuing movement of theice, over an eroded gravelly landscape,past walls of rock-covered ice, skirtingdeep crevasses and meltwater channels

Continued from Page 2

2

and then up onto the surface of the glacier.Here near its terminus we enjoyed apanorama of cracks, crevasses andmounds and cups sculpted by the icy windconstantly blowing down off the higherparts of the glacier in the distance.

Intermittent showers alternated withperiods of bright sunlight producing spec-tacular scenery.

A short flight the next day took us toIlulissat, one of Greenland’s busiest touristdestinations and home to the UNESCOWorld Heritage Ilulissat Icefjord site. Thisis the home to Greenland’s largest fishingfleet.

There is a single town water pump sincemost homes in Greenland do not have run-ning water. The local hospital with 3 resi-dent doctors is the second largest inGreenland!

That night we viewed the aurora from aplatform behind the Arctic Hotel, our cozyand very comfortable lodging in Ilulisat.The display of lights was spectacular.

The aurora has been known since antiq-uity. Local traditions mostly regard theselights as the souls of people who died a vi-olent death, while Norse legends considerthe aurora to be light reflecting off theshields of the Valkyries who flew theirhorses over battlefields to bring the soulsof warriors who died violently to Valhalla,Odin’s great hall in the afterworld (As-gard).

The aurora is the fluorescence of gassesin the upper atmosphere about 60 milesup. Green is emitted by energy releasedby oxygen while pinks and reds resultfrom reactions with nitrogen.

We saw great displays of color-but this

involved standing still out in the freezingcold for hours. It was freezing and I didn’teven have a heavy coat.

This experience reminded me of why Idecided to study the Earth rather than pur-sue astronomy!

Another day we boarded a boat to viewthe towering icebergs at the mouth of theIcefjord.

As giant bergs break off of the glacierinland, they move down the deep fjord at arate of about 60-100 feet per day until theyget stuck on the bottom in the shallowwater at the mouth of the fjord.

This one glacier produces more icebergsthan any other in the northern hemisphere.It began retreating rapidly about 70 yearsago and gives graphic evidence of thechanging climate. It is thought that it was

iceberg from this glacier that sank the Ti-tanic.

On a subsequent day we boarded a heli-copter and flew up the fjord to its headwhere ice continuously calves off into thewater.

From a thousand feet up as we arcedover the iceberg-packed fjord the vastlandscape of ancient rock and ice inter-twined in infinite undulations and textures.

At one point on one of our boat trips wescooped up some floating glacier ice andused it to enjoy a taste of single maltscotch. As this ice melts the compressedair trapped in the ice thousands years agopops and crackles.

Studies of air like this trapped in gla-ciers thousands of years ago documents

Glaciers, Ice­Fjord and the Aurora Borealis

The Arctic Hotel in Iluissat provided the accommodations for Kathy and Bruce andtheir fellow travelers. The ice cap and a glacier make up the frigid scenery.

Continued From Page 1

Continued on Page 3

how our atmosphere has changed over thepast 20,000 years.

On our long flight back to Los Angelesfrom Copenhagen we had ample time toreflect on our experiences.

Next time I will definitely bring aheavy down jacket and gloves. I was theonly person on the trip with no gloves.And I did the walk up onto the ice cap instreet shoes-I had forgotten and left myboots in the hotel room.

So next time I plan to be better pre-pared. In March 2015 we will travelmuch farther north to Svaldbard to visitthe northernmost settlement in the world.

We will climb through an ice caveunder the glacier, ride a dog sled and takea 7-hour snowmobile drive. The high-light will be a total solar eclipse. So wewill still spend time looking up at thesky-but at least it won’t be in the middleof the night this time!

3

Continued From Page 2

More Adventures in GreenlandJust Don’t Forget Your Jacket and Gloves

Kathy stands in front of a church in Ilulissat. Not everything is covered in ice. The photo shows an iceberg free Ilulissat harbor. Below, Bruce is examining a muskox pelt. The beauty of Greenland can be seen in photo of a sunset and icebergs.

Stay ConnectedYour friends and colleagues are

eager to hear about what you aredoing these days. Consider writingan article or dropping a note to theRetirees Association at PCC. Eventhough you might think your tripsare not worth an article, think again.If you’ve enjoyed a weekend or daytrip, those who can’t or don’t wanttotravel to far-off places want to knowabout interesting things to do closerto home. Just because some articlesare long, doesn’t mean yours has tobe. We like short stories too. Re-member, some of us live vicariouslythrough your travels.

4

House Swapping Equals A Great VacationBy Pat Savoie

Almost every July my three daughters,their families and friends, and I spend aweek or two in Santa Cruz and love it.This year, however, I followed my daugh-ter Amy and her family (husband Kirk,twins Madeline and Emma, daughterAnnabelle, and son Ben) to Europe fortwo weeks in France and two weeks inEngland.

With three teenage girls, and a 7-year-old boy, it was not an Elderhostel trip. Ihad to remind the girls to turn aroundevery so often to be sure I was still insight.

I had been to most of the places we vis-ited, but two things made this trip differ-ent—getting a view of things through theeyes of the grandkids and living in otherpeople’s homes while there.

Through homeexchange.com, Amy hadset up house swaps, which turned out tobe wonderful. So nice to be able to makeyour own meals, take a day off, enjoy theneighborhoods, and strike out for otherplaces at will.

The owners of the first house we stayedat picked us up at the airport in Paris anddrove us to their home in Bazoches-du-Sur, a lovely little village near Versailles.

The house was built in the 1400s andthough nicely modernized still retained itsthick stone walls and beamed ceilings.The family moved in with relatives beforeflying to Las Vegas (a good deal, it seems)and driving to stay at my house from July

4 through the 26th. They later e-mailedthat they had done far less traveling aboutCalifornia than they had expected to sincethey enjoyed my village so much. (Well,that was a new take on Altadena.)

Continued on Page 5

The photo (above) shows a view of a vineyard down from the house overlookingLac Lemon. (Below left Pat takes a walk from New College heading for the Turf-Oxford. (Below right) The view of a church and garden was across the streetfrom their house in Montielier.

So Nice To Relax in A Home Instead of a Hotel

5

We began our trip in France becauseMadeline was in France with six otherstudents from her French class at Mon-rovia High. Turned out we were veryhappy to have her as our translator.After a few visits to Paris, we drove to ournext “home” in Montelier south of Lyon.

This time we were up a narrow streetwith connected houses made of stone andconcrete. Ours was across from a livelyold church and garden.

We had met this house’s owners beforewe left for Europe. They spent an eveningin my house, and the next day the fatherwent to pick up a camper while the threesons went to Amy’s house in Monrovia toswim.

When the dad returned, they all took offfor the Grand Canyon, etc. and returned topark in front of Amy and Kirk’s house thenight before we left.

From the house in Montelier, we trav-eled to spend some time with friends ofKirk’s family near Geneva and then on tothe parents’ home over-looking LacLeman (Geneva).

On other days, we visited many interest-ing sites in and around Lyon, Valence,Bordeaux, and also over to Die to visit an-other friend of my daughter Ann. He andhis wife had bought an old stone barn andhave spent five years making it into lovelyhome.

Back to “our” first house, we spent afew more days including July 14 on theChamps-Elysees and had dinner just ablock from the Arc de Triomphe. Niceeasy and important day after museums,catacombs, great monuments, all of whichhad long lines of tourists—even NotreDame. Last day in France was a visit toMont Sainte Michelle.

Then under the channel to London andto South Croydon and our next home, a

very nice relatively new parsonage.(This family had moved into

Kirk and Amy’s house.) After picking up a car we drove

to Ellesmere in Wales to take a nar-row boat trip down the lochs toLlangollen. On the way back westopped in Buford and Oxford tosee the families Amy and Kirk hadstayed with during their semesters in Oxford.

Kirk had to go back to work andBen missed his dog and friend, so

both went back to stay with neighbors.We “girls” got to roam London, see a cou-ple of plays and go back to Oxford, etc. Itwas a lovely trip. During the month wegot to chat with Emily and Ann and familyboth at home and in Santa Cruz via Face-time.

When we returned home, we found ourvery own homes is great shape, and Ithink they were as happy to see us as wethem.

Continued From Page 4

Pat Found Homes Away From Home

Circle May 11 on your calendar, and plan tojoin your fellow retirees for a tour of the

Japanese Gardens in Van Nuys. The docent tour is scheduled to start

at 10 a.m., with the bus leaving the CEC parking lot at 8:30 a.m.

Watch for details in the mail.

Pat’s four grandchildren, Emma,Annabelle, Madeline and Ben, alsoenjoyed the house swapping adventure.

SAVE THE DATE

6

The PCC Courier Celebrates Its 100­Year AnniversaryBy Mikki Bolliger

The PCC Courier is marking its 100-year anniversary this year. The student-run newspaper has been publishingcontinuously since Feb. 4, 1915 with theexception of a few weeks during WWII.When I stop to think about it, it is hardfor me to believe the number of transi-tions the Courier made just during my35 years as the paper’s advisor. When Iretired in 2009, I had advised more than1,100 issues of the Courier.

When I first started working at PCC,the newspaper looked nothing like itdoes today. It was broad sheet, and itwas only four pages.

In 1973, the newspaper officewas located on the bottom floor ofthe C Building. There was a class-room, instructor offices, and anewsroom with desks and just afew typewriters.

I can still remember how thrilledthe students were when we movedto the B Bungalow and they got alab with 20 manual typewriters sothat reporters didn’t have to wait totype their stories.

It was such an exciting time,but I do recall grumbling everytime I had to change a typewriterribbon.

The newspaper was first pub-lished when the college was stillpart of Pasadena High School, andthe paper’s name was the PHSChronicle. When Pasadena JuniorCollege was established in 1924,the Chronicle came along, but itsname was changed to the PCCChronicle.

It wasn’t until 1954 that thenewspaper became the PCCCourier, and that name has stuckfor the last 60 years.

When I worked on my first issue,the paper was produced on a letterpress, which means that the type

and photos were printed from a raisedsurface. The typed lines that came out ofthe typesetter were the mirror images ofthe letters. In other words, the entirepaper was set in forms with all of thestories reading backwards. It was an im-portant skill at that time for the journal-ism instructor to be able to read thosepages.

The journalism students would writeand edit their stories, and they wouldtake them to the printshop where StanCoutant would use the Intertype Ma-chine to set them in hot metal.

I had gotten through my first few is-sues of the paper with just minor prob-lems, but soon my ability to read

backwards came in very handy. A stu-dent had obviously spent hours countingletters and spaces for his story so a nastymessage would appear if you read thewords that were formed when youlooked at the first letter of each wordrunning vertically down the left-handcolumn. The message was a not-so-nicecomment about how the college presi-dent should go screw himself.

As a newspaper advisor, those kindsof things tend to jump out at you, so Iasked to have a space inserted into thefirst line of type. It was a pain for thetypesetter to do that, but he added thespace. That did the trick—there was nomore message.

The writer was the last stu-dent to check the page before itwent on the press, so he wasexpecting everything to comeout just as he planned. What hedidn’t realize was that I alwaysgot the last look. When thepaper came out the next day,the student couldn’t figure outwhat happened because noteven one word he had writtenwas changed.

I am sure what the studenttried to pull off didn’t escapethe notice of the printers. Ithink they just wanted to seewhat this new advisor woulddo. I believe I passed a big testthat day because nobody evertried anything like that again.

When the printing industrymoved to cold type, theCourier changed too. Weadded a special key punch ma-chine for setting the type.

Students wrote and editedtheir articles, and then theytook turns keying in their sto-ries. They printed out apunched tape that corre-sponded to the words in theStan Coutant is working on the Intertype machine that

was used to set the type for the Courier in hot metal. Continued on Page 7

story. It was not an easy task toperform since the display screenonly showed two lines at a time.Richard Jones was hired as a newemployee to do paste up for thepaper. Hot metal was gone, andcold type and paste up were in.Things changed quickly after thatbecause we were now hearingpeople talk about somethingcalled a computer that would helpus produce the newspaper faster.

My first introduction to thecomputer was downright frighten-ing. This thing was supposed tomake life easier, but by the timethe four-hour introduction wasfinished, I was ready to run backto the security of my now electrictypewriter. However, progresscouldn’t be stopped, and theCourier moved into the age ofcomputers.

Because the only place that hadonline access at the time was thelibrary, I had to take the journal-ism students there to be introduced tothe Internet. Dan Haley would do theseintroductions for the classes, and hiscomputer knowledge was definitelylight years ahead of most people oncampus at the time.

His lectures went smoothly until oneof my students told me about a searchengine that was supposed to be newerand better than anything else. Since Dancovered search engines in his lecture, Itold him about the one the student heardabout.

The problem was I didn’t hear thename correctly, and when I told Danwhat to type in, it turned out to be apornographic website.

Poor Dan was talking and hadn’t no-ticed the picture that was spread acrossthe wall-size screen behind him. Thewhole class gasped. The students wereas shocked as I was.

When Dan finally looked up, Ithought he was going to go into cardiacarrest. He tried to close the site immedi-

ately, but it wouldn’t close. Every timehe tried to close it, a new pornographicpicture popped up. He started yelling,“Class dismissed, class dismissed.”That class lasted only 10 minutes thatday. I apologized several times, but hewasn’t ready to forgive me just yet.

The student who gave me the name ofthe search engine was waiting outside,and he said he was sorry about the prob-lem but I spelled it wrong. I said “hotbod” when he had told me “hot bot.” Ibet Dan hasn’t had anything top thatday.

I think that was the last time we hadan intro to the Internet in the library.

Things moved pretty quickly afterthat. In 1996, we still didn’t have onlineaccess in the Courier lab, but we didhave an online edition of the newspaper.Done Dennison, a Courier staff member,had Internet access from her home. Shetaught herself HTML, found us a freeprovider and put the Courier onlineevery week.

Our site wasn’t easy to find be-cause you had to type in about 30characters to get to it, but the PCCCourier was one of the first collegenewspapers with a web edition. Thenewspaper has been online eversince.

During the first few years, theeditors just put all of the paper edi-tion’s stories online. Today, storiesgo online in real time. Reporters nolonger have to wait until Thursdayto get their stories published.

The biggest change for theCourier was the switch to desktoppublishing. Except for the actualprinting of the paper, the studentswere able to put the newspaper to-gether by themselves on the com-puter.

At first it was a struggle to learnthe design program, but the students caught on fast.

Pretty soon, the computers wehad were too slow, but it was tooexpensive to get new ones. Eachyear we would add one new one,but the older ones would become

obsolete. Finally, we got all the samecomputers in the lab with all the samesoftware. (They were not new comput-ers, but they were new to us.)

As the years went by, the Courier gotbetter and newer equipment. Everythingtoday is digital, including the photogra-phy.

The library has organized an exhibitin the rotunda showing copies of thenewspaper throughout its history. Theexhibit also features the Intertype ma-chine that was first used to produce theCourier on campus.

It is hard to believe that the Courierwent from hot metal to digital in my 35years and more than 1,000 editions asadvisor.

As I sit here typing this story on mycomputer, I can’t help but think aboutthe fact that the Intertype machine ondisplay in the library is now an antique.Do you think they call those of us whoworked with those machines antiq . . .?Nah!

7

Continued From Page 6

Mikki Bolliger is showing an example of a page of typeset in hot metal .Without photos, that page weighs 85lbs. Fixing errors in hot metal was not an easy task.

The Courier Changed With Latest Technology

8

The Lamsons Take TwoPilgrimages In JapanBy Alan Lamson

Sheila and I lived in Japan, in thecity of Mishima, for over a year in thelate 80’s. I taught English classes atthe Mishima campus of Nihon Univer-sity and its adjoining Junior College,along with private classes for TorayInternational, and a local Rotarygroup. Sheila also taught privateclasses, along with an English conver-sation class at the local high school,and occasionally gave cooking presen-tations to groups of ladies in city-sponsored classes.

The many holidays at the universityallowed us to travel often, which wedid to other Asian countries as well asto tourist sites in Japan.

Our favorite destination was Kyotowhere we visited most of the better-known Buddhist temples and some ofthe local villages, such as the farmingvillage of Ohara. Since Kyoto andsurrounding areas have more than1,600 temples and Shinto shrines, weonly scratched the surface of the manylayers of this historic city, Japan’s an-cient capital for over 1,000 years.

While living in Japan, we had neverheard of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimagetrail. Kumano is the traditional namefor the southern part of Kii Peninsula,located south of Osaka; Kodo meansancient.

In prehistoric times, the Kumanowas a sacred site associated withShinto, the worship of nature, and laterwith Buddhism, which arrived in the6th century from China. Today theKumano Kodo is a special place forJapanese people because of the manyimportant Shinto shrines located alongthe pilgrimage route, especially thethree grand shrines, called the Ku-mano Sanzen, which combine the wor-ship of both Shinto and Buddhism.

The entire route consists of seventrails that snake through the Kii Moun-tain Range in Japan’s Wakayama pre-

fecture, about 100 km south of Osaka,the second largest city in Japan. Lastyear, for the first time National Geo-graphic offered a walking tour of thetrail—not the entire route but a sectionof it called the Nakahechi route or theImperial route. After reading aboutthe itinerary: four days of moderatehiking through cedar forests, visits tosignificant Shinto shrines, overnightstays in rural villages, and a three dayvisit to Kyoto, we were hooked—eventhough Sheila’s arthritic knees didn’twelcome much hiking, especially aftershe fell in the lobby of our hotel inTokyo.

She was comforted, however, by thepromise that those who couldn’t hikewould be provided transportation. Asan added benefit, we planned to visitafterwards with old friends from when we lived in Mishima.

One of them, Kimiyo, was Sheila’sbest friend. She has had renal failurefor nearly 20 years and receives dialy-sis three times a week. Recently shehad been diagnosed with cancer, soour visit would be a good-bye visit—amore personal pilgrimage than the Ku-

mano Kodo. After brief visits to Tokyo, Asuka—

the first capital of Japan where manyof the early emperors are buried—andOsaka, we traveled by train fromOsaka south to Tanabe and then by busto the village of Takijiri where webegan our pilgrimage.

We stretched our legs with a two-hour, mostly uphill hike to the farmingvillage of Takahara where we stayedthe night. We were staying at an inncalled Kiri-no-Sato Lodge, oftencalled the Organic Hotel. It is built ofwood by local craftsman and offersspectacular views over the surround-ing mountains. I found Sheila relax-ing in our room and suggested we sitoutside and enjoy a local beer whilewatching the stunning sunset over theHatenashi Mountains.

Even more memorable than the sun-set was our sumptuous meal preparedby John, the proprietor, an acclaimedchef who uses only locally grown pro-duce. Over the next two hours, weenjoyed wild vegetables, peanut tofu,fatty blue fin tuna, and Hokkaido

Continued on Page 9

9

salmon simmering in a pot with spe-cial mushrooms that cost “as much asa Mercedes”, John informed us. Hemust have meant pound for pound.After dessert, which I don’t recall, heentertained us with Japanese melodieson his guitar.

The next morning we left the lodge,with some regret. Today would be theday of our longest walk, about sevenhours. It was described as moderate,but after a few hours my legsshouted— “stren-uous”. As thehours passed, Ikept thinking, “Itcan’t be muchfurther,” espe-cially since wewere hiking at afast clip, hopingto outrun mon-soon Vongfondthat was headingour way.

I kept picturingmyself immersedin an onsen (hottub), enjoying acup of sake. I en-vied Sheila whowould have al-ready arrived atour destination—and would bewarm and wellrested. Finally, inthe late after-noon, we descended a hill above thesmall village of Chikatsuyu. We wereall dragging by this time and delightedto see the village, especially since themonsoon rains had finally arrived.There were only a few places to stayin the village, all of them “minshikus”,small inns in private houses with onlya few rooms. Because of the size ofour group, we had to stay in two sepa-rate inns. Seven of us would be stay-

ing in this inn, owned by an elderlycouple who had raised four sons in thehouse, one of whom still lived withthem.

Sheila was nowhere to be seen. Thewoman, who owned the Inn, didn’tspeak English, but when I said theword “okusan” (wife) she repeated theword, smiling and bowing, thenpointed out the window to a nearbybuilding. Sheila appeared shortly af-terwards. She said that she had en-joyed a wonderful day as guest of thewoman in charge of the local Kumano

Kodo Nakahechi museum. Thewoman spoke English and was de-lighted to practice her English by giv-ing Sheila a detailed tour of the exhibitfollowed by a cup of tea.

After Sheila arrived, I asked abouthaving some sake. Sake didn’t needany translating. Soon a large glass ap-peared. I then asked about the loca-tion of the onsen (hot tube) andfollowed her downstairs. Soon the

combination of sake and hot waterprovided the perfect remedy for sorelegs and cold feet.

Dinner was served early. It was asumptuous country meal: miso soup,tempera vegetables, fresh water fish, ahot pot with mushrooms and vegeta-bles, and chauwanmushi, literally “teacup steam”, a egg custard dish withmushrooms, vegetables, and boiledshrimp in a tea cup like container.

We were all stuffed after the mealand retired to our rooms. We read onour I-pads and fell asleep to the sounds

of wind and torren-tial rains slammingagainst the building.Monsoon Vongfonghad arrived in fullforce, one of themost powerful mon-soons in recent yearswe had been told.

Even though ourinn had been builtover 100 years ago,it was designed towithstand the mon-soons that frequentJapan this time ofthe year. It hadlarge wooden shut-ters to protectagainst the windsand rain that accom-pany monsoons. Wewere cautioned notto open any win-dows while the mon-soon was blowing.

During the night, the house twistednonstop, at first lulling us to sleep butoccasionally waking us. By morning,however, Vongfond have moved northtoward Tokyo; the winds and rain hadboth died down. The local river, how-ever, so shallow and slow the day be-fore, was now full and chargingthrough the village at great speed.

After another two days of hiking,

Continued From Page 8

Continued on Page 10

Long Hikes, Visits With Friends and a Monsoon

10

we traveled by train to Kyoto wherewe spent the next few days visiting fa-miliar sites.

On the last day, we said good-byesto our fellow travelers and tour guide,and departed by train to the city ofOkayama, about two hours away,where we were to meet with ourfriends before going onto Kurashiki, ashort distance. As memorable as wasthe Kumano Kodo and visit to Kyoto,the emotional high point of our tripwas visiting with old friends, espe-cially Kimiyo.

I mentioned that we lived inMishima nearly 30 years ago. Wewere there as part of a sister city rela-tionship between Pasadena andMishima. We lived in a companyapartment complex owned by theToray Company in an area with thecharming name—Asahigaoka—sunrising hill.

We were the only foreign coupleliving there. We were treated as spe-cial guests by the families who livedthere, especially by one couple,Kimiyo and Norio Tani. We bondedwith them immediately perhaps be-cause we both had no children. Overthe next year and half, we becameclose to Kimiyo and Norio. Sheila be-came especially close with her andoften consulted with her about whereto shop for sales, what to buy, how toget a telephone, and an endless list ofhow-to-do items that confront the for-eigner in Japan.

Kimiyo also organized languagelessons for the ladies in our apartmentcomplex. They talked about varioussubjects, but were especially interestedin married life in America.

During a language session one day,one of the women asked, “Do youoften kiss?” She said she had seen uskissing in the parking lot before I leftto teach at the nearby Nihon Univer-sity. Sheila said that yes, we often did.The ladies looked at each other. One

commented, “We seldom do that.”That led to my wife to suggesting thatas a class assignment they tell theirhusbands that they loved them.

At the next class session, the ladiesreported in studied English that theirhusbands were mostly unresponsive.One woman said that she greeted herhusband one evening—dressed seduc-tively— hugged him and said, “I loveyou.” He responded by saying by pat-ting her on the head and saying:

“We’re too old for this.” She wascrushed. Kimiyo was the only onewho said that she and Norio huggedand kissed.

Flash forward to the present. Wemet Kimiyo and two of her two closestfriends, Fumiko and Kaoru, inOkayama, about two hours by trainsouth of Kyoto.

Kimiyo, we knew, had been recentlydiagnosed with lung cancer and wasn’texpected to live much longer. Herfriend Fumiko said she very muchwanted to have an outing with us inKurashiki.

When we saw her, we were sur-prised how healthy she looked, as at-

tractive and stylishly dressed as we re-membered.

After checking into our hotel inKurashiki, we walked to a local ramenplace for lunch; it was both tasty andinexpensive. Afterwards we walkedabout the local historic village, a popu-lar tourist attraction for the Japanese.

It contains no electric poles to makeit look as it did during the Meiji periodwhen Japan first opened to the West.The old merchant quarter is called theBikan historical area. It containsmany fine examples of 17th centurywooden warehouses painted whitewith traditional black tiles.

Kimiyo had to stop occasionally torest, but otherwise appeared in goodspirits. Later that evening, all of usenjoyed a meal at a Japanese restau-rant near our hotel. During the meal,Kimiyo was again in good spirits, andsaid she ate more than usual.

The next day we accompaniedKimiyo to the train station. Sheneeded to return to her home inShikoku for a scheduled dialysis treat-ment. All of us accompanied her ontothe train and gave her a good-bye hug.When she was alone with Sheila, shesaid: “I’m sorry, Sheila, but this willbe the last time we see each other.”Both broke into tears.

She told Sheila that she was havingher best kimono made into a jacketand pants for her and would have themdelivered to our hotel in Mishima.

As we stood outside her compart-ment, Sheila pressed her hand againstthe window as Kimiyo pressed hers onthe other side—a common gesture ofclose friendship in Japan.

Our trip began as a pilgrimage alongan ancient trail to places of early wor-ship in Japan. But its deeper purposebecame our farewell visit with an oldfriend whose kindness and goodhumor helped make our stay in Japanthe most memorable of our lives.May she rest in peace.

Continued From Page 9

They Find That Their Trip Had a Deeper Purpose

Professor Wally Bennett, formerfaculty senate president and professorof printing, passed away on Nov. 7 atthe age of 97. Wally spent most of hislife sharing his knowledge with hisstudents and with the printing and de-sign industry. Wally taught offset li-thography at PCC.

Wally was recognized as PIASC Pi-oneer of the Year in 1987, spent 35

years teach-ing at bothPCC and ArtCenter Col-lege of De-sign. Afterretiring fromteaching hehad a success-ful career pro-

viding print production semi-nars for PIASC firms such asColorGraphics, Gans Ink andOverland Printers.Wally served in the U.S.

Marines from 1942-1945. Hefought in Saipan and IwoJima and received a BronzeStar and Purple Heart.

Born in 1918 in Chicago,he married in 1946 andworked for the world’slargest printer, RR Donnelly(Chicago), as a color separa-tion dot etcher. He moved hisfamily to Alhambra in 1950and started teaching offset lithographyand color theory in 1951. He was amember of the faculty ski club.

Wally was married from 1946 to

1996 when his wife passed away. Theyhad three sons, James, Scott and Jerryand have four grandchildren and twogreat grandchildren.

11

In MemoriamWally Bennett Passes Away at 97

(From left) Doug Haines, Wally Bennett, GaryStudebaker and Richard Jones dueing a visit totalk about old times.

Retired Police Chief Peter MichaelPasses Away Unexpectedly

Pete Michael, the college’s formerChief of Police, unexpectedly passedaway at his home last month.

He came to PCC in 2006 after a longand distinguished career with theGlendale Police Department. Aftergraduating from the Sheriff’s Acad-emy, Michael worked patrol, hostagenegotiations and as the Air Unit’s heli-copter pilot. He also headed the Glen-dale PD’s Community ResourceDepartment.

Michael retired from Glendale as a

lieutenant at age 55. He came out of retirement and

worked in the private sector before heapplied for the chief’s job at PCC.

The “Chief,” who was always easyto approach by faculty, staff or stu-dents, quickly earned the respect of hisdepartment and the campus commu-nity. No matter who you asked on thecampus, the comments were almost al-ways that he was a great Chief of Po-lice and a really nice man.

Chief Michael brought a commit-ment to professionalism and oversawmany innovations on campus. Amongthem was the design of the current de-partment’s offices, the introduction ofthe Business Center with LifeScanservices, the deployment of the cam-pus’ video surveillance system, andthe Emergency Operations Center.The state-of-the-art center is consid-ered one of the best Emergency Opera-

tions Centers in the State of California,according to the Chancellor’s office.

The Chief also introduced the de-partment’s motto: “Vigilance, Valor,Honor” – an adept description for hisown career.

In 2011 Pete retired to spend moretime with his wife, Sherri and his kids,Laura, 30, Paul, 28, and Andrew, 23.

His family, friends, and colleagueswill miss his warmth and generosity.

12

The Retirees Association was able to give nine students scholarships this year to some very deserving students. All of these out-standing students will be able to continue their education because of the generosity of retirees. Pictured above are RetireeHarry Kawahar, Marcus Franco (rear), Annie Liu, Nathan Minier, Beatrice Segning, Michelle Spencer, Retirees Alan Lamson(rear) and Pat Savoie, Danielle Torres (rear), April Sandquist and Jean Abac. Winner Gina Harris is in a photo on page 13.

Scholarship Winners Say Thank YouDear Pasadena City College Retirees Scholarship Committee:

It is with extreme gratitude that I write this letter of thanks to Pasadena CityCollege Retirees Scholarship Committee. I am just out of words and simply atawe of all of your efforts to help hardworking students like me succeed regard-less of my difficult past. Thank you so much for this academic recognition.

I am pursuing a career in automotive industry. I am hopeful of earning myAA degree in Pasadena City College by Spring of 2016. Coming from a dys-functional family, I have faced many challenges in life and made many mis-takes. However, education is my second chance to redeem myself and rise abovemy past struggles. I am so grateful to all of you for giving me once again thisopportunity to help me afford my education. I could never take this opportunityfor granted as well as your faith in me.

I thank all of the members of the Pasadena City College Retirees Associationfor having confidence in me and reaffirming that my dreams are possible. Ifirmly believe that a person may make mistakes but that individual should neverbe judged by his past alone. I think everybody deserves a second chance so thatthey have something to fight for in life. Thank you again for sincerely believingin me.

Respectfully Yours,

Marcus A. Franco

My name is Jean Abac, a PCC stu-dent, and one of the recipients of thePCC Retiree Scholarship. I wouldlike to let you all know that I amtruly and greatly honored to have re-ceived such generous financial assis-tance from your kind donations.

This opportunity will not only helpmy current financial situation as I gothrough my undergraduate years as aworking student, it will also providesignificant ease to my financialpreparation for my future entry tomedical school which I am savingup for. My humble gratitude extendsto you and your families as I am for-ever grateful for this wonderfulchance which will allow me to con-tinue to focus in my studies andmaintain a good standing as a stu-dent of PCC.

Thank you for your generous consid-eration.

13

Letters From Scholarship Winners

Gina Garris, this year’s Osher winner, is all smiles after re-ceiving her award. She is shown with scholarship commit-tee chairman Alan Lamson and committee member PatSavoie. Dear Mr. Lamson:

I am writing to thank you for selecting me as one of therecipients of your scholarship. It was truly a pleasure tomeet all of you, and hopefully I will get the opportunityto meet with you all again when my schedule isn’t quiteso demanding.

The scholarship will be used toward the purchase of avehicle which is desperately needed to travel to and frominternships and job opportunities. I truly believe in the“Pay It Forward” concept and practice this by helpingothers with their projects or just sitting and listening tosomeone that may just need an ear to hear.

As a Radio and Television Operations/Production stu-dent, my goal is to learn all aspects of both mediums. As Istudy, I volunteer at Lancer Radio in order to build uponmy skills. I also work in Lancer Lens creating new con-tent for the new informational system on campus as wellas content for different programs that enhance the learn-ing experience. My ultimate goal is to become a Techni-cal Director, and this scholarship will help me achievethat goal. Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Gina M. Harris

This year’s scholarship winners are a very impressivegroup. The scholarship committee members were espe-cially impressed by how all of them have been able toovercome many challenges in continuing their educationand doing so well in their studies. The entire Retirees Association Board was even more impressed by them afterhearing their presentations at the last meeting.

Dear Alan and the Retirees Association:

It was a pleasure and an honor to meet with everyone at theRetirees Association meeting. I wish I could have stayedlonger but life and being a full-time student keeps me verybusy these days. Being an art student requires much more ef-fort than simply showing up to class and turning in homework.An artist must also produce new work constantly and maintainan impressive portfolio in order to be competitive. The extrahours needed to create art projects often far outweigh the timeneeded for even the most substantial of research papers.

There is very little time left in the week to earn a decent in-come. It seems like every month there is a point where I seri-ously wonder if I will be able to continue attending classes fulltime and pay the bills while maintaining a high standard ofcraftsmanship in my work. Fortunately mysterious forces oftencome to the rescue and this time it comes in the form of theRetirees Association. Thank you so much for your support.Your help will make a big difference in my ability to success-fully complete this semester, and will provide me with extrastability in my final semester at PCC. After the Spring semes-ter I should receive my A.A. in studio arts and be transferringto finish my B.A. degree.

It has been a very good month for me so far because, in ad-dition to receiving the Retirees Scholarship, I am also pleasedto say that two of my paintings were recently selected to be inthe annual PCC juried art exhibition that will have its openingreception this Tuesday at noon at the Boone Gallery and con-tinue throughout the month. If anyone would like to attend thereception, it should be a very nice time. I received the juryprize last year and have my fingers crossed for another win.Thank you all again for helping me continue to achieve mygoals!

Sincerely,Nathan Minier

Dear Alan and other board members:

Thank you for the opportunity in sharing a few moments of mylife with you. I rarely tell people of my struggles in life becauseeither they would not understand or they only see that as who Iam.

I am grateful for all that you guys have given me and I will doyou all proud as I go forward with my RN degree. Thank youagain from the bottom of my heart. Blessings to you all this dayand everyday hereafter.

Sincerely

April Sandquist

14

Hello Mr.Lamson:

I just wanted to thank everyone fromthe PCC Retirees Association again fortoday and for having the pleasure ofseeing and meeting everyone who hadelected to help me. Truly a blessing ! Itis very heartwarming to know there arepeople who believe in me and supportme in my education. I will always domy best, thank you again !

Sincerely,

Annie Liu

More Letters From Scholarship WinnersDear PCC Retirees Association:

Thank you so much for awarding me the PCC Retirees Association Scholar-ship. I am both humbled and honored to have been chosen for this award.

I am a Business Administration major with plans on transferring to Cal StateLos Angeles in the Fall of 2016 with the final intent of becoming a CertifiedPublic Accountant. I have been attending Pasadena City College since the Fall of2013 after a 20 year absence of formal education. I am a single parent to a son,and I realized that I needed to put my money where my mouth was and earn adegree.

With the scholarship you have generously awarded me, I will have much lessto worry about when it comes to my finances. It is comforting not having toworry about my Spring semester book purchases.

Because of the Association’s generosity, I will be able to focus on school andnot have to worry about getting another job to offset my expenses. I will con-tinue to apply myself here at PCC. I will work toward my goals to not only makemyself better, but inspire others and my son that it is never too late and that hardwork does go rewarded.

With my deepest gratitude,

Michelle Spencer

Dear PCC Retiree Association members:

I am very grateful to you for yourhelp. Your offer has come to me at an-other critical moment of my life. Threeweeks before I receive your congratula-tion letter, I was so stressed by my dailyobstacles, and I didn’t know exactlywhat to do in this particular situation. Iwas struggling between my schoolworks, the family responsibilities, andthe necessity for me to find money formy nursing school applications.

Either keeping good work in class andtaking care of my two babies is impor-tant, but I also commit to my nursingtraining. I have already spent enoughtime for my nursing prerequisites, so Ihave to make sure that I won’t miss anyapplication’s deadline. With the nursingschool requirements, I face many fi-nancing obligations such as paying for

school applications, financing my TEAStest, requesting my official transcripts tobe sent to different schools, and havingmy foreign degree evaluated.

Before your offer, I didn’t know ex-actly where money was going to comefrom, but I had to satisfy those needs inorder to purse my goal. I was sostressed, but when I received your offer,I experienced a profound relieve, and Iam more than happy that you have cho-sen me as a recipient of your scholar-ship.

I am again confident that things arereally playing in my favor and that bycontinuing working hard, I will get tomy goal no matter what obstacles I haveto overcome.

Sincerely,

Beatrice Segning.

Dear PCC Board of Retirees andGenerous Donors:

I would like to express my deepgratitude for your efforts at making itpossible for me to be a recipient ofthis year’s scholarship. As givers ofyour time doing the holistic reviewsfor over 100 applications and asdonors of your monetary resources, Iam humbled by your choosing mefor this opportunity. I was grateful tohear my peers speak about overcom-ing great circumstances and it re-minded me that it takes a village.

Your dedication to returning stu-dents is a wonderful way to encour-age the PCC community especiallyfor those of us whose families cannotor choose not to acknowledge ourgrowth in tangible ways financiallyor in emotional ways through en-couragement.

It truly means a lot to be believedin and entrusted to be a good stewardof this gift and I will make good useof it. Currently, nutritious groceriesfor the fridge and digital educationaltools in preparation for multipleexams in the near future are at thetop of the list.

I look forward to being in touch asthe journey unfolds.

Sincerely and a big thank you again,

Danielle Torres

PLEASE DONATE TODAYTimes are tough, especially for students who are trying to make ends meet inthese tough economic times. Each year the Retirees’ Association prides itself inbeing able to support outstanding students who need help to continue their edu-cation. However, without your donations, we can only fund a fewscholarships.Remember, you can earn air miles by putting your donation onyour credit card. Just call the foundation office at PCC you are giving to the re-tirees’ scholarship fund.

15

Only a few tickets are left for the April 12 performanceof “The Three Penny Opera,” a fundraiser for the Re-tirees Scholarship Fund. Two generous retirees haveagreed to put $3,000 into the fund if we can raise thematching amount. Half of the ticket price will go to thescholarship fund. Even if you cannot attend, you canmake a donation to the scholarship fund and help usmeet our goal. Make checks payable to the PCC Founda-tion, but indicate the money is for the Retirees Scholar-ship.

Faculty, Administration Finally Agree on a Contract

College Expects SanctionsAfter Accreditation TeamGives Preliminary Report

A 13-member accreditation teamconcluded its visit to PCC on March12, and it submitted a preliminary re-port which included accolades alongwith the possibility that college willbe put on sanctions when the final re-port comes out in July.

The team made several recommen-dations according to a memo to thefaculty by PCC’s interim presidentBob Miller. “PCC needs to improveits governance structure by adheringto board policies, increasing trans-parency and participation, and im-proving collegial communicationamong all constituency groups.” Italso stated that “all constituencygroups need to comply with their ap-plicable Code of Ethics policy.” Thereport also mentioned that the college“needs to engage in a regular and sys-tematic evaluation of our shared gov-ernance structures anddecision-making processes.”

In addition, the memo said, “weneed to systematically evaluate andimprove our planning processes, andProgram Review needs to be inte-grated with our overall planningprocesses and allocation of re-sources.”

The team also indicated that “Per-formance evaluations for faculty,staff, and administrators with respon-sibility for learning or support serv-ices outcomes need to be revised toevaluate performance in thoseareas.” The memo also stated that“Through participatory governance,we need to develop a comprehensiveand coordinated professional devel-opment program for faculty, staff, andadministrators.”

Miller said in his memo, “We werenot surprised by the recommenda-tions, most of which had been identi-fied by us as areas for improvementin our Self Evaluation. While wehave already begun work in some ofthose areas, it is clear that we willneed to dedicate ourselves to the hardwork that is needed for us to meet the

recommendations fully.”Miller said “it is likely that PCC

will receive a “sanction,” meaningthat while we will remain an accred-ited institution, we need to make im-provements before we arereaffirmed.” He explained that thedifferent levels of sanction includewarning, probation, or in the most se-rious instances, show-cause. I willnotify the campus as soon as we arenotified of the outcome, Miller said.“If we are put on any level of sanc-tion, we will be required to submit afollow up report and be visited byteam members next year.”

Not all the news from the accredi-tation team was negative. Severalareas received commendations. Dis-tance Learning was praised for ex-ceeding the standards required foronline learning. According to Miller’smemo,” Specifically noted were theoutstanding professional learning op-portunities provided to faculty, ourmodel-course design, and the overallintegrity of the program.”

The college also received a com-mendation for its commitment to stu-dent success. Programs that werenamed by the team included DesignTech, First Year Experience, VeteransServices and its Graduation Initiative.

The memo also stated that the“campus community was applaudedfor promoting a welcoming and in-clusive environment for studentsthrough our mission, values, servicesand campus life. Specifically namedwere the Cross Cultural programs,advisory committees and veteransservices.”

Facilities Services was praised formaintaining a beautiful campus.

“The Child Development Centerwas commended for its quality serv-ices, the way in which it has con-nected its instructional component toworkforce development, and thegrants which have provided addi-tional opportunities for our students.”

Miller said, “For n ow, the workneeded to achieve reaffirmation ofour accreditation is crucial. We owe itto ourselves and our students to takethe team’s advice to come together,do the hard work that is necessaryand move forward together.”

At press time, the only informa-tion available about the team’spreliminary report was a memofrom PCC’s interim president BobMiller.

The PCC faculty will finally be getting a raise. The board oftrustees approved a salary increase of 10.79 percent through June2016. The faculty has not received a raise since 2007. They will re-ceive 2 percent retroactive pay for July 1, 2012 through June 30,2013. An additional 2.79 percent will be paid retroactively fromJuly 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014. Faculty will be getting an-other 3 percent for the current fiscal, July 1, 2014 through June 30,2015, and 3 percent more added from July 1, 2015 through 2016.

During the 2015-2016 school year, adjunct faculty will be paid anextra 1 percent raise added to the 3 percent agreed upon for full-time faculty.

The board voted unanimously to approve the terms of the agree-ment, and the faculty overwhelmingly approved the new contract,with 98 percent voting to approve it.

Retirees who were working in 2012 and 2013 can stop calculatinghow much their retroactive checks will be because they were notincluded in the salary agreement.

The increases only apply to employees on the payroll effectivethe date of approval. The board approved the contract on Feb. 18,2015, said Joseph Simoneschi-Sloan, executive director of businessservices.

PCC Retirees’ Association1570 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91106

Donate to the Retirees’ Scholarship Fund